Greats and goats: Seahawks top Rams, win division and top seed

December 29, 2013 8:05 PM

Photo: Elaine Thompson, Associated Press

Image 1of/7

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 7

Greats and goats: Seahawks top Rams, win division and top seed

After several weeks of subpar performances from the Seahawks, we once again had trouble coming up with Seattle's "goats" in Sunday's victory over the Rams. But that doesn't mean we didn't come up with any. It was a lot easier to identify the Seahawks' "greats" in a 27-9 win that clinched the NFC West title and No. 1 playoff seed for the NFC.

Click through the gallery to see who we think were Seattle's greats and goats in Sunday's big game. Then, vote for your picks in the polls below. And, as always, if we left out one of your choices, please leave a comment even farther below. We want to hear what you think.

Brandon Mebane is one of the least-heralded players on a Seahawks defense chock full of stars, but his impact often outweighs his notoriety, if not his substantial size. On Sunday, the big man was a one-man wrecking crew.

Mebane — along with the rest of his fellow defensive linemen — held the point-of-attack against the run, and was a key cog in a Seattle unit that held St. Louis to just 13 yards rushing after giving up more than 200 in their previous meeting. Mebane forced his way into the Rams' backfield in the passing game, as well, applying pressure to quarterback Kellen Clemens on both of the Hawks’ first-half interceptions — one of which was returned by linebacker Malcolm Smith 37 yards for a touchdown. If the NFL gave out assists like the NBA or NHL, Mebane would be a prime candidate for his play Sunday afternoon.

A groin strain knocked him out of the game early, but Mebane should be able to use the upcoming week off to get healthy and continue to make an impact along the defensive line.

Golden Tate had the best statistical game of his NFL tenure on Sunday, catching a career-high eight of his nine targets for a career-high 129 receiving yards, including a 47-yard touchdown that iced the game early in the fourth quarter. (He would have had another one, too, but a holding call against tackle Russell Okung nullified the play — see “goats” later.)

But it’s not just the stats that matter when measuring Tate’s impact on a game. How he goes about his business amplifies his contributions. Tate doesn’t simply run with the ball after every catch, he looks to score — or to at least dish out some punishment on opposing defenders while he’s got the chance. Ditto on punt returns. “When he gets the ball in his hands,” quarterback Russell Wilson said, “he’s spectacular.”

On his touchdown reception, Tate made a tremendous play on the ball, slamming on the brakes and cutting in front of cornerback Janoris Jenkins to catch Wilson’s slightly underthrown pass. Tate then dragged Jenkins into the end zone with him for the score.

Tate's influence might not be appreciated outside the Emerald City, but his coach recognizes his importance to the team. “He’s been a magnificent player for us,” Carroll said after the game. “The excitement is all around him, any time he touches the ball.”

Bobby Wagner was another player who earned Carroll’s praise in his postgame press conference, and it’s not hard to understand why. The second-year linebacker out of Utah State might not display gaudy numbers or spout off quotable phrases at reporters like some of his louder teammates, but Wagner's quietly consistent play has earned him a place among the league’s best middle linebackers.

Wagner contributed 12 tackles on Sunday, leading the charge while also relaying the defensive signals. And if it looked like Sunday’s effort against St. Louis running back Zac Stacy was personal, that’s because it was.

“We wanted to come out here and set the tone,” Wagner said after the game. “We felt like they really gashed us in the run last time we played them, so we wanted to come out and be a lot more physical then we were and make sure we stopped them from running."

When Wagner went down in the first quarter with an apparent upper-body injury, the collective worry at CenturyLink Field was palpable. But he returned to lead a defensive performance that stymied the St. Louis offense all game long.

The Seahawks got back to doing what they do best on Sunday, and part of that was giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch again and again and again. And he responded, taking his 23 carries for 97 yards and a score, coming up just short of his first 100-yard rushing game since Nov. 10 in Atlanta.

Like Tate, Lynch’s style makes just as much of a difference as his substance, at least according to his coach. “I thought that Marshawn was really aggressive today, really tough today,” Carroll said after the game. “He just fought it out the whole way, just the way we like.”

Lynch’s tough yards made things easier for Russell Wilson, who started slowly but looked more and more comfortable as the game went on, finishing with decent numbers. Lynch finished the regular season with 1,257 rushing yards and 14 total touchdowns, a career high. This year he also made by far his biggest impact in the passing game, racking up 35 catches for 312 yards and two scores. And if Sunday is any indication, he should remain very much a focal point of the Hawks’ postseason gameplan.

It's a tall task going up against Rams defensive end Robert Quinn, who last week set a new franchise single-season record with 18 sacks. But if there's anyone the Seahawks would want to go head-to-head with Quinn, it would be left tackle Russell Okung (pictured at left in the background), one of Seattle's Pro Bowlers last season and a consistently powerful force on the offensive line for the last four years.

Unfortunately for the Seahawks, Okung didn't deliver Sunday. Perhaps he was still milking the toe injury that kept him out of eight midseason games, but Okung struggled against Quinn all afternoon. While he allowed Quinn just one sack -- a relative success, considering Quinn's pass-rushing prowess -- Okung had trouble protecting Russell Wilson's left side. Okung even nullified Wilson's touchdown pass to Zach Miller just before halftime, when he was caught holding Quinn at the line of scrimmage. Okung also committed a false start.

Let's get one thing straight: Russell Wilson did not play a terrible game. He didn't even play a bad game. But he did not play a very good game -- and when he has proven time and again that he can play football at an elite level, able to make something out of nothing on a consistent basis, Wilson's decent game performances look like poor ones. And that lands him on our "goats" list after Sunday's victory.

Like he did the past three weeks, Wilson got off to a shaky start. In the first quarter, his accuracy was uncharacteristically suspect as he missed throws he usually completes. He finished the first half 8-of-14 for 77 passing yards while sustaining three sacks, and opened the third quarter with an intentional-grounding penalty, pinning the Hawks up against their own end zone. Wilson rebounded in the second half and finished the tilt with 172 yards and one touchdown on 15-of-23 passing, for an impressive passer rating of 102.1, but he once again showed worrisome flashes of indecisiveness and inaccuracy that could pose a problem in the playoffs.

Nevertheless, in the "goats" poll below, we recommend voting for Okung.